Saturday, December 27, 2008

The traveling Santa hat

Michelle sent me an OSU Santa hat for Christmas. I thought it was a splendid idea to have everyone put it on for a picture. It at least makes me happy. (Mom tried to beg off, but in the end she looks like she had the most fun with it! Love ya Momma!)






Check Up

Nate has his 9 month check-up a week ago. Nate loves the doctor's office because he's got his own table with a big mirror and the ear and eye-check thingy to play with.


He is 20 lbs 15 oz and 28" long. He's growing so well. We asked the doc about Nate's new separation anxiety, and becoming a beast during diaper time, clothes time, sitting time, eating time, etc... The doc answered all our concerns with "yep, that's normal" and "yep, he's right on track".

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Sooo...

Long time, no blog. Since last I posted, we went to the BAE Systems Christmas party with Matt and Amanda. The night started out fine and a few good pictures were taken:


And then THIS happened. This tasty (ha!) concoction was called a "Flea Bite". If anyone ever offers you one, run the other direction. Matt (aka The Pusher) made fast friends with the bartender and he made all sorts of evil things for us to consume.

Brief respite for a cute couples picture.

Then the drunkies paired up and our loving spouses tried to act like they thought we were funny/cute. I'm pretty sure by the end of the night, I was neither funny nor cute.

Here's the last picture of the night before I excused myself to the ladies room. It was an early night for me.


Last weekend Mike and I went to see Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy with a big group of friends. Thanks Sallie for arranging it! We had an awesome dinner and then I have to say I was mesmerized by the show. It's amazing to see how the human body can move. The sheer strength of those people was crazy. Poor Nate though...or should I say poor Amanda and Skyler?? Nate is going through some separation anxiety lately. Apparently he screamed for a good long time. Amanda said she was fine with it (at least she now believes me that he's not always angelic!). She and Skyler went to such lengths as to sing and dance, go for a car ride, and watch 1 minute clips of SuperWhy! on Youtube. Amanda said at one point Skyler said "I'm doing the best that I can!". I've said that very thing on many an occasion!

Mike's been in HazMat Chemistry class for the past two weeks. He has learned so much and I think he's enjoyed his time away from the station. It's been nice having him home every night but oh my aching back! I've been toting Nate around to all my clients' houses every day for the past 2 weeks. I normally only take him with me twice a week or so since Mike's schedule is 24 on/48 off. It's really made me aware of how fortunate to have Mike home so much.

I have some good video of Nate in his walker. Well. I don't have it right this sec, but once I upload it, I'll put it up. He's so freaking cute. He loves to go into the kitchen, take magnets off the fridge and tote them all around the house. He also loves to go to the back door and grab the blinds and shake them like crazy. Bosco's learned to move quickly or he's bound to get run over!

I've been lamenting to my mommy friends that Nate's been a PITA when it comes to diaper time. And when it's time to get dressed. And when it's time to get into his car seat. Or his high chair. Gah! It's miserable! Everyone tells me it's a phase, but just how long is this going to last?? I started to take this next picture because he was so cute with a Puff stuck on his chin. It quickly turned to "I've been in this seat too damn long, Mom" time. This is also what he looks like when I try to sit him in it to start.

Fun times at our house. Self-inking stamp, a ball, and a box of lawn bags. Good times indeed.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Christmas Cards

I saw this post on my mommies group blog:

When doing your Christmas cards this year, take one card and send it to the address below. If we pass this on and everyone sends one card, think of how many cards these wonderful special people who have sacrificed so much would get.

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue
NW Washington , D.C. 20307-5001


Spread the word!

*Updated to say - obv bogus address. Got returned mail today. Bah!

O Christmas Tree!

We have Christmas fever around here. On Monday, Mike put up the tree and the boys hung out with me while I decorated it. I love all the ornaments we have. Almost every one of them has special meaning or at least a story to go along with it. I think that is way more interesting than doing a themed tree. Don't get me wrong. Trees that are trimmed in all red or all silver are pretty to look at, but they just seem impersonal to me.

My Nana & Poppops sent us kids an ornament every Christmas. It's fun to look back and see all the years stamped on them and knowing that they picked that ornament especially for us. I think that's a great tradition to keep going. Hopefully Nate will enjoy it as much as we do.

I thought it'd be a fantabulous idea to make cookies Monday night too. I was going to try Gina's "recipe" for lemon cranberry cookies. I called Mom for the sugar cookie recipe. I had everything except cream of tartar. I looked online for substitutes for cream of tartar which says to use some precise measurement of baking powder - or was it baking soda? (I was as confused by the directions that night as I am now - Mike had to explain it to me) Well, whatever it told me to use I don't recommend. It made the batter kinda foamy. I put it in the fridge for an hour so I could roll cookies, but it never stiffened up. Maybe it was all the lemon juice I had to use. Maybe it was a combination of the two. What was my point? Oh - why does a dog as spoiled as Bosco (see Exhibit A) still find it necessary to eat horseradish cheese or baby food bananas while we're not home?
*Exhibit A

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Thanksgiving and stuff

We had a great Thanksgiving at my parents house in NC. It was a very quick trip, but we packed in lots of stuff in that short time. Mom and I were crafty, Dad and I ran the Turkey Trot 5K (I'm so proud of myself - I ran the entire way), I ate my weight in turkey and stuffing, Nate had mashed potatoes and a bit of gravy, the guys played golf, and the girls went shopping. Here's the proof:

Mom and I made decorative burp cloths and ribbon key chains. Fun! So much so that Mom bought me a sewing machine and sent it home with me. Thank you!

Ready to feast


Nate propped up on Daddy who is in a post dinner triptophan coma.

Family picture time





Mike and Dad golfed while Mom, Nate, and I went shopping.

Again... straws = tons o' fun

Mom found a great consignment store in New Bern. Nate loved this chair so much, that it's now his spot at Nana and Poppops house. It's great for relaxing after shopping on Black Friday.



By the time we got home on Friday night, Nate had a low grade fever. After an up and down weekend and a fever of 102.3 last night (and him waking every 30 mins through the night), I took him to the doctor this morning. Lo and behold, he has an ear infection. Poor baby. Hopefully tonight will be better.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Catching up

Let's see. Where did I leave off? We celebrated my birthday with our BFFs Amanda and Matt last Tuesday night. I'm the only one of us 4 who chooses somewhere other than our favorite sushi place. I'm not a sushi- or fish of any sort- eater but I love the other food they serve, the atmosphere, and of course Bruce (the sushi god). Anyhoo. I chose The Cheesecake Factory. Nate came with and had a grand time. Oh - I got a camera from my folks so I used it to take pics at dinner. It's so little and it's handy to just toss in my purse.






Nate's had a cold since last week so I took him to the doc just to make sure he didn't have an ear infection, etc. I love this picture... The look on his face in the mirror steals my heart.

Nate's been sporting his Oklahoma State wind suit lately. Thanks Michelle! He wasn't thrilled that it was picture time, but that's never stopped me before. :)


A new development has come up in the past week-ish. Nate HATES diaper changes and/or putting pants on and pitches a fit. This was mid diaper change when I finally stopped trying to pin him down. In this picture he's doing a dandy job of convincing you that he didn't just screech at the top of his lungs and cry and squirm and flip and generally make me sweaty and frustrated. My revenge??? Posting his bare butt on my blog. Hah!

Nate and I met Sallie for dinner on Sunday night. I think it was my first real meal of the day unless Pringles and Lindt truffles count as a "meal". Nate thinks Straws = Tons o' Fun

Mike, Nate, and I went to Chuck E. Cheese on Monday for a play date. I know. What the hell were we thinking? It was actually tame at 11 am on a Monday. Ready for a rant? I know this is technically my fault (what??) but I didn't read the token machine until I was loading a $20 bill into it. It said "NO CHANGE GIVEN". GAAAHHHHHH! Now seriously. What the frick am I going to do with my remaining $17 worth of CEC tokens? Nate rode a few of the rides, I played Skee Ball, and we took advantage of the "Chuck E. draws a sketch of you from a picture" thingy. Mike and I both got cute sketches with Nate. I'm not in the mood to scan them so you'll just have to believe me. Or come over and look at our fridge door. (Please call about a week in advance so I can de-funk the house first.) The one picture I did think to take was Mikey playing "Brave Firefighters". :)

So, we invited ourselves to dinner at the Molnars last night. Just for fun, Skyler gave me a hot mama hairdo. I said I'd put it as my profile pic on Facebook and I did. Gotta love the braids on both sides and the pony tail in the back. S.E.X.Y.




Cute boy alert!

Nate loves stories. I got 11 new books at the library today. He (we) loves books by Todd Parr, especially ones about Otto the dog.

Trying out the sling with Nate on my hip. We made it to the mailbox with no mishaps.

Nate in his new seat, which is now in Mike's car ready for our trip to NC tomorrow.

Mike and I took a run tonight and boy was it cold. Nate was so snug in there that he slept most of the way.

Okay. That's all. I bet you feel like you've been with me for every second of every day since my last post. You're welcome. :) Happy T-giv!